“An absolute star that shines so very, very brightly. A true inspiration for me over the years like you would not believe. The Horrorist aka Oliver Chesler has released so many of techno’s best ever & most well recognized releases. If I started naming them all I’d be typing here for an eon. So many releases on not only his own label The Things To Come but countless others too and his remixes for other people go on and on and on he’s that much in demand. His live show, which has to be seen to be believed, has been played across the globe & is being constantly booked to perform to sell out crowds. A true pioneer from the birth of techno, to now & into the future. This DJ set he has done exclusively for the show is quite simply stunning. So strap yourself in, let your blood wings soar and prepare your ears for a flight into vicious sonic beauty. Enjoy LOUD!” – RIOT Radio

The BBC has posted a four part audio series about the history of electronic music titled, “The Great Bleep Forward”. Thank goodness main stream Europe “gets” synth and computer music.

“The story of modern music is one of subversion and experimentation, of heroes and villains. But what if we’ve got it all wrong? What if the real subversives didn’t wear leather and denim but smart suits and white lab coats? What if the true experimentation wasn’t with LSD but with DX7’s and S900s? What if the real heroes of music aren’t John, and Paul, Mick and Keith, but Ralf, Florian, Robert and Wendy!

The Great Bleep Forward is a series four programmes, presented by Andrew Collins exploring the history of electronic music. Hear the first baby’s cry of the moog synthesiser, embrace the difficult childhood of prog rock, grapple with the ‘experimental’ teenage years of the New Romantics and discover the middle aged maturity and nostalgia of the present day. You’ll also get a sense of the sound of the future.” – www.bbc.co.uk

Good old AM/FM. The last time I listened to regular radio outside of my car was in the 80s. I used to listen to stations for hours just to catch and record a song I liked onto cassette. Lucky for me that habit created a giant box of tapes recorded from the airwaves which I will make digital someday. These days most radio is harsh, loud, repetitive and loaded with more than 60% commercials. Since I moved back to New York from Berlin I bought a car and so I’ve been listening and seeking through stations.

The craziest thing happened. I find myself stopping on 106.7 Lite.fm more than any other music station. Lite.fm is one of those you know adult contemporary stations playing elevator, oldies and love songs (Joe Cocker). You still can hear a lot of Korg M1 sounds on this station! I got to thinking what’s keeping me at this part of the dial. I think it’s the fact that these songs are full of melodies and clear vocals/lyrics I can understand. If I don’t know a song I like to follow along and hear the message. I’ve noticed a lot of songs I once thought were really horrible cheese are actually pretty good. I’m not leading this blog post to some profound point I just wanted to share. I know your going to say I’m getting old. That maybe but I still love me some kill evil music. They never really played any of that dark stuff on the radio anyway. Sometimes I check out 89.1 WFDU (Fairleigh Dickinson University) radio but it’s hit or miss depending on the DJ. When it comes to AM NPR is where it’s at.

My radio listening days are almost over as I finally ordered a new radio with an iPhone hook up. Pandora, Last.fm, Slacker, Simplify Media, podcasts, audiobooks here I come!

Sales of recorded music in the United States are nowabout 30% lower than when Shawn Fanning introduced Napster in 1999. Sales in the physical form (e.g. CDs) are down by nearly half. There is little doubt that the Internet has been a “game changer” for the record label business.

In this audio program we explore a couple of ways that the Internet can add revenues. One is already generating more money for the industry and promoting new artists. The second appears to be an idea whose time has come. – insidedigitalmedia.com

Living in New York in the 80’s I spent a good amount of time recording the local radio onto cassette tapes. Classic rap shows like DJ Red Alert’s Rap Attack on Kiss FM and DJ Marley Marl on 103.5 WBLS. I also grabbed freestyle hits like When I Hear Music by Debbie Deb and Silent Morning by Noel. As my music taste broadened I discovered I could pick up a faint signal from a alternative Long Island Radio Station WLIR and recorded Depeche Mode, New Order and other new wave masterpieces.

I had a giant Conion boombox I bought at the Spring Valley flea market. It was the size of a car door! It had a double cassette deck, turntable inputs, an alarm and the above said FM tuner. If you want to see how big these boomboxes really were check out this YouTube video.